A painful history of Cambodia

I hired a Tuk-Tuk (aka remorque moto), consist of a motorcycle with a cabin for the passengers hitched to the back. They are cheaper than taxies and plentiful. The only problem was the roads here are dusty and bumpy. My body was covered with a layer of sand after the afternoon tour. The Tuk-Tuk even broke down 5 minutes before my last destination. I patiently waited for the driver to fix the problem until the last hour of the museum was approaching. Then he called his friend to get me there.

The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, (About 17 km south of Phnom Penh, 40 min by taxi or moto or tuktuk). A former Chinese cemetery where the Khmer Rouge killed many thousands of their victims during their four-year reign of terror. Today the site is marked by a Buddhist stupa packed full of over 8,000 human skulls - the sides are made of glass so the visitors can see them up close. There are also pits in the area where mass graves were unearthed, with ominous scraps of clothing still to be found here and there. It is a serene yet somber place.

Millions were killed during the traumatic genocidal regime of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge. The admission includes a very good audio tour.

I then visited the Tuol Sleng Prison Museum (S-21 Prison), which was converted from a school into Cambodia's most important prison in 1975. More than 14,000 people were tortured here before being killed at the Killing Fields; only 8 prisoners made it out alive. The infamous "skull map" has been dismantled, although there are still skulls stacked in cabinets, implements of torture and disturbing photographs of people dying.